Bale Admits Using “A Lot Of Painkillers” After Returning From Ankle Injury Last Season

Gareth Bale has revealed that he had to take a lot of painkillers last season in order to play for the club [source].

This is what he had to say on the issue:

On the one hand, it's easy to say that I should have rested more, but when you've been injured for three months and you see your teammates playing, you really want to get back out there and that's what I did.

I had to take a lot of painkillers to play and yes, now I think I should have taken more time to recover so I could have played much better and be able to do all those things that I was unable to because of the ankle pain.

This piece of information will likely come as a shock to fans, as many put Bale’s lack of form last season down to commitment or ability issues. The former has always been an incredibly lazy argument, as Bale has been a consummate professional his entire career.

But that hasn’t stopped major outlets from posting worthless trash about the Welsh winger, attacking not only his commitment, but his lack of “Spanish-ness,” as if that is somehow relevant to his role as a footballer.

It’s always easy to judge when you have no idea of a player’s internal struggles and it’s definitely been easy for the fans and press to do that to someone as reserved and introverted as Bale. But as Guti revealed recently, Bale has even more challenges that we are unaware of.

Not only has he suffered from a serious injury, but he also may need to change his running style because of it. It’s unsure how this will affect his level of footbal, but some understanding from the fans, and possibly the media, would be welcome in the process.